US Complicity in Israel's War Crimes
Episode 20 Sneak Peak
This week we are very lucky to be joined by BreakThrough News journalist Rania Khalek. Rania is an insightful analyst who has been a clear moral voice on foreign policy. Her writing has appeared everywhere from Grayzone, The Intercept, The Nation, Vice and many more. Subscribe now so you don’t miss this timely discussion on the future for Israelis and Palestinians at a time of renewed violence and outrageous human rights abuses.
Something extraordinarily rare happened on MSNBC today: one of their anchors actually showed courage and challenged a status quo narrative. Ayman Moyheldin asked a former Israeli Ambassador if what Israel was doing right now to Palestinians could be considered a war crime.
Ayman’s perspective was no doubt shaped by his background reporting in the region where he has spent time in the occupied territories witnessing Israel’s brutal apartheid policies firsthand.
As insightful as Ayman’s question was, the former Israeli official’s answer was just as revealing. He informed Ayman that “just as we made homes for the Jews…we think its fair that the Arab world would accept their brothers and sisters and integrate them.” In other words, all of the nice talk of a two state solution is just a thin patina over the true goal. A one state solution that pushes all Palestinians out of their homes to be absorbed into surrounding Arab states.
Of course this goal is obvious if you look at the actions of the Israeli government over the past weeks just in East Jerusalem alone. East Jerusalem has high religious significance to Muslims and has been envisioned as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Strict limits on building permits have been used to force Palestinians either to build illegal dwellings or leave the city entirely, a win for the Israeli leaders and right wing extremists. The immediate source of conflict comes from a push by Jewish settlers to evict Palestinians from their homes in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, an issue that the Israeli Supreme Court was set to rule on this week before postponing the decision amid an outbreak of violence.
Local officials have been clear about their goals of ethnic cleansing. The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem said that these evictions were “of course” part of a wider strategy of placing “layers of Jews” throughout the eastern half of the city. The goal, Mr. King said, is “to secure the future of Jerusalem as a Jewish capital for the Jewish people.”
Hundreds of Palestinians were injured by Israeli police who shot them with rubber bullets and launched stun grenades in scenes that will look familiar to those who watched this summer’s outrageous displays of police brutality. In response, Hamas fired rockets into Israel, giving the IDF an excuse to fire missiles into the occupied territories.
At last count, 30 Palestinians including 10 children, along with 3 Israelis, had been killed in the ongoing conflict.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration sounds exactly like the Trump administration. State Department spokesman Ned Price was happy to confidently proclaim Israel’s right to self defense but suddenly became squeamish when it came time to support the right of Palestinians to self-defense. This same spokesperson refused to condemn Israel’s killing of young children.
And of course the question of the billions we send to Israel every year rendering our nation complicit in these deaths goes completely unquestioned by bipartisan members of Congress, with a few courageous exceptions.
This show just keeps getting better and better; I love Rania Khalek and I’m so excited to see the interview.
Krystal and Kyle , you are heroes of the oppressed, you are the real populist.
Peace and love from Palestine